*** EMMANUEL CHERRIER, STEPHANE GUERARD (Editors): La régionalisation en Europe. Regards croisés. Editions Bruylant (Groupe Larcier, 39 rue des Minimes, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 5480713 - fax: 5480714 - Email: commande@larciergroup.com - Internet: http://www.larcier.com ). "Rencontres européennes" series. 2014, 726 pp. €80. ISBN 978-2-8027-4695-9.
This weighty tome is the result of two colloquies organised at the beginning of the decade by the Observation for Local Autonomy, University of Ovidius in Constanta (Romania) and Valenciennes University (Northern France). In this book, readers are invited to get to grips with a number of very diverse regions in the European Union and look at how they have developed in this connection. The issue very early on appears to be one of establishing whether the real motive of the regions and the notion of "regions", which has taken on a life of its own over the past few decades, according to the neat little formula of Ana Rodica Staiculescu and Adrian Stoica, has not led to a certain mixing up. If this is indeed the case (and this is in fact one of the red lines contained in this book) we need to know whether all the regions are indeed equal with regard to European law and, on this premise, establish where their trajectory is likely to lead them.
In the introductory chapter, the book's editors, political scientist Emmanuel Cherrier (University of Valenciennes) and legal expert Stéphane Guérard (University of Lille) look at all the different difficulties that can stem from the regional phenomenon. They therefore illustrate how regions can constitute, "a threat to the state or a weakening of it", as confirmed so clearly by Catalan demands, even though leaders in Barcelona will certainly not agree with Cherrier and Guérard, when they argue that regionalisation could also possibly constitute, "the sort of re-feudalising of certain national territories". They also point out that the Union appears to consider that the "ideal region" should correspond to a certain preconceived formula or "demographic or indeed geographic or economic definition", which, ultimately excludes "historic regions" in certain countries. Nonetheless, how can this be avoided while at the same time defending, "respect for the territorial diversity of each member state", which the Commission appears to have encouraged and the subsequent, "implementation of regionalisation as an absolute prerequisite for obtaining European funding"? These are some of the areas explored in the body of the book, which also opens up onto a range of more general reflections and in the second part of the book, the spotlight focuses on a number of prevailing aspects in Germany (competing federalisms), in England, Flanders in Belgium, Scotland, Spain and Catalonia, France, Ireland, Lithuania, Wales, Czech Republic, Romania, the United Kingdom and Slovakia.
Obviously, it is impossible to provide an account of all the different lessons to draw from all the different contributions but we can focus attention on two different aspects. The first one is put forward by Hanan Qazbir (Université Toulouse I - Capitole), who, in an "essay on definition" of the European regionalisation argues that the European regions, due to the place they occupy within their respective states, are not equal and that it is possible that the Union turns a blind eye to the rough ride the equality principle is given and that the most powerful regions will be the obvious beneficiaries of this situation. Our legal expert then argues that from a democratic point of view, the fact that the state, "still remains the main interlocutor in the dialogue between citizens and Europe" does not effectively endorse the democratic legitimacy that certain local and regional delegates enjoy. This is in fact a blatant contradiction of the principal included in Article 1 of the Treaty, which seeks to ensure that the objective is to, "create a Union that is ever closer between the peoples of Europe and in which the decisions are taken as closely as possible by the citizens themselves". Guillaume Protière (Université Lyon Lumière 2) provides a passionate analysis of the devolution began in 1998 by Tony Blair in, "reaction to the exacerbated centralism practised by the neo-conservative government of Margaret Thatcher during the 1980s" and the impact that this could ultimately have on the political unity of the United Kingdom. He explains that this evolution effectively results from a, "refusal to transform the British state into a federal one" and the fact that the sovereignty of the Westminster Parliament remains the golden rule. Even though they did win a degree of democratic legitimacy, the, "devolved authorities" remain, "parties in a given political area incorporated into the British state". Sovereignty, as the governing mode of authority remains within the Westminster monopoly, forbids any transformation of the British state into a federal state, "due to there being no acknowledgement of the statutory identity between the local political units and global political unity". It is even more the case that… England is the only region in the United Kingdom that has not benefited from this devolution and is consequently, "always confused with the overall political order", which inevitably makes it seem like a, "safeguard against any transition to federalism and its corollary or the demand for a written British constitution". This could partly explain England's constant aversion to the F-Word in the European context but which could ultimately cost it, as Guillaume Protière concludes, the end of Union in the United Kingdom, following the increasing rise in secessionist trends that the inertia in London provokes.
Michel Theys
*** LUIS DOMÍNGUEZ, IVA PIRES (Editors): Cross-Border Cooperation Structures in Europe. Learning from the Past, Looking to the Future. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes / Peter Lang (1 av. Maurice, B-1050 Brussels. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 - Email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "Euroclio”, No. 82. 2014, 227 pp.€44.90. ISBN 978-2-87574-186-8.
This book brings together very well-known historians, geographers, sociologists and political scientists with others who are just at the very beginning of their careers. The focus of their study is the incessant increase in cross-border cooperation in Europe. In the introductory chapter, Professor Luis Domínguez (contemporary history at the University of Vigo) and his counterpart Iva Pires (who teaches at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Lisbon) provide a useful account of the huge progress achieved since the 1970s, when the Keynesian and Fordist models led to European countries opening up to a "period of decentralisation" and over time, more of an acceptance (amongst some more than others) of the increasing power of the cooperation networks working at national borders to enhance economic development. As part of this evolution, the 1990s marked a turning point, with the launch by Community Europe of cohesion policies and Structural Funds that subsequently led to the birth of the, "concept of neo-regionalism", which was, "closely linked to the process of economic globalisation" developing at the time. Since then, the last two enlargement processes that occurred in the European Union led to an almost doubling in the number of cross-border cooperation initiatives. The goal of the authors contributing to this book is to work out where this phenomenon could lead, by drawing lessons of past experience and their informal institutional development. The first part of the book is theoretical and contains clarification regarding the Commission motives when it decided to participate very much at a practical level in the cross-border cooperation exercises and the subsequent regional equivalent, in combination with the sometimes problematic application of this principle in the countries that had joined the Union during this century, as well as the situation between the US, Mexico and Canada. The second part of the book focuses on practical examples from the Iberian peninsular, to the Baltic, countries such as Germany and the Netherlands, Poland and Denmark, Italy and Austria, Hungary and Switzerland. (PBo)
*** Federalism. A New Right for Democracy and Development in Europe. Centro Studi sul Federalismo (30 via Real Collegio, I-10024 Torino. Tel./fax: (39-011) 6705024 - Email: info@csfederalismo.it - Internet: http://www.csfederalismo.it ). 2015, No. 2, 128 pp. ISBN 978-2-87574-247-6.
This volume of Federalism focuses on the instruments that seek to increase democratic participation in the Union. It also looks at the European Citizen Initiative, introduced by the Lisbon Treaty. In a context of economic and social crisis, which is strengthening populist forces and endangering the evolution of the integration project, European federalists have drawn on Article 11 of the Treaty on European Union, to promote a European Citizen Initiative, which seeks to ensure that a sustainable development plan and job creation initiative is introduced. The essays included in this issue present this initiative as the ideal solution for reversing the dynamic of crisis and vicious circle in which the Union's democratic deficit impacts negatively on its ability to respond to the needs of its citizens. According to the authors, this European Citizen Initiative for a real New European Deal provides an excellent opportunity for reducing the persisting distance between citizens and the European institutions and therefore promoting the democratic factor within the Union. They also claim that this should help provide the European institutions with the popular legitimacy they require, in order to be able to focus resources on the implementation of the ambitious development and investment plans, which would help to find an exit strategy to the years of restrictive policies and a way out of the crisis. Therefore, as asserted by Simone Vannuccini in his essay, the proposed plan would provoke a real "inversion of expectations" from social and economic actors, as well as a genuine change in the politico-economic paradigm and help pave the way to the earmarking of resources crucial to the development of a European economic and social model that is both sustainable and ecological. Finally, as pointed out by Giampiero Bordino in his premise, this European Citizen Initiative could possibly provide a very efficient instrument for promoting new democratic Law and development in Europe and help relaunch the project for European unification. (JBe)
*** NIKOS BOYOPOULOS: L'autre fois… à gauche. Éditions Kapsimi (55-57 rue Zoodochou Pigis, GR-10681 Athens. Tel. (30-210) 3813838 - fax: 3839713 - Email: info@kapsimi.gr - Internet: http://www.kapsimi.gr ). 2015, 304 pp. €12. ISBN: 978-618-5156-10-7.
This book includes articles and other texts from the journalist-economist, Nikos Boyiopoulos, originally published on a website during the 2013-15 period. They were written in response to the propaganda claiming that there is "no alternative" possible to the policy applied in Greece and the European Union by the political and economic forces subject to the dominant orthodoxy. The author seeks to shed light on the reasons for the crisis and those sustaining and which increase the danger of lasting social decay, of which the first manifestations are now clearly visible. The book is divided into five thematic sections: debt and deficit, neofascism, the European Union and the position Gris occupies within it, fiscality and unfair taxation, the Syriza government and its policy. Nikos Boyopoulos explains the causes for public debt and deficits in Greece, the lessons that can be drawn from the crisis, the way in which the neofascist Golden Dawn party has operated behind its anti-system mask and the role played by the previous Greek Minister for the Economy, Yanis Varoufakis. Overall it represents a detailed critique of Greek society and the current government. The author also points out that the history of the country can indeed sometimes go either right or left. (AKa)
*** GEORGE KARAVOKIRIS: La constitution et la crise. Éditions Kritiki (4 rue Papadiamantopoulou, GR-11528 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 8211812 - fax: 8211026 - email: biblia@kritiki.gr - Internet: http://www.kritiki.gr ). 2015, 226 pp. €15.90. ISBN 978-960-218992-4.
Almost 5 years after the signing of the first Memorandum, despite there being a sufficient political and legal example to gauge the crisis and the measures to tackle it, it does appear, however, that in the management and interpretation of the crisis, the concepts of basic legal culture have reached their limits and led to an apparent confusion with regard to the validity and understanding of the "law of crisis". This book was written by a Professor of constitutional law and sociology at the Democratic University of Thrace. It seeks to provide clarification within the context of crisis and beyond ,of the normal reasons underpinning law, such as sovereignty, democracy, the public interest, dignity and necessity. In the context of crisis, the author provides interpretation of the interrelationship between the law and urgency and seeks to provide a way out of the traditional legal notions that have reached this impasse, according to which, "necessity is a category of law" and the political position is such that "necessity creates the law. This university lecturer argues the contrary, if we accept that the law must always be linked to a real and genuine necessity, we have to further the development of reasons that require its adoption. He provides a critical analysis of the debt burden, the way in which the necessity for the "law of crisis" has been used over time. In light of the current situation and the emotion it creates, he analyses the divisions between the invoking of the reason of state and the protection of rights, the epistemic confusion of the anti-memorandum discourse, the need and justification for legal regulation and necessity as a normative motive. A chapter focuses on the problems created by debt in light of the metaphysical concept of sovereignty and the rather subtle legal interpretation of the necessity of debt. (AKa)
*** PETROS MARKARIS: Le justicier d'Athènes. Une enquête de Kostas Charitos. Editions Points (25 bd Romain-Rolland, F-75014 Paris. - Internet: http://www.cerclepoints.com ). 2013, 317 pp. €7.40. ISBN 978-2-7578-4533-2.
Bibliothèque européenne does not usually review novels, especially those of the detective genre. This, however, is the exception that confirms the rule because it is passionate from beginning to end and the author fills his scenes and discourse from real life and the human tragedies and bitterness resulting from the crisis in Athens and Greece as a whole. (MT)